On Nov. 19,the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office was presented with an award by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) for successfully completing accreditation.

Accreditation is a rigorous program that was developed by WASPC to certify that a police agency is complying with best practices and maintaining the highest professional standards in police operations.

This year the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office re-accredited, maintaining the professional standards set forth by WASPC. Re-accreditation takes place every four years once an agency becomes initially accredited. The Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office has maintained this accreditation standard since 1994.

Benefits of accreditation include administrative and operational effectiveness, fair recruitment and employment practices, better records management, improved use of technology, health and safety training, codes of conduct and prisoner security, among other important law enforcement tasks.

Currently, only 74 of the over 300 police agencies in the state of Washington are accredited through WASPC.

“This is a huge accomplishment that was achieved by the hard work of all of the members of our agency,” said Undersheriff Kevin Schrader

Chief of Administrative Services Rugena Peterson acted as the accreditation manager for the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office.

Chief Peterson worked diligently on this project for several months to help us achieve this high-level accomplishment and we thank her for her hard work,” Undersheriff Kevin Schrader.